'She has no insight or understanding of the depths of her criminality,' lawyer
charges

Jul. 5, 2005. 06:29 PM

FROM CANADIAN PRESS

Karla
Homolka's portrayal of herself as a remorseful victim was nothing more than the
masterful performance of a psychopath who simply doesn't understand her own
depravity, still-grieving relatives of her victims say.

Speaking on behalf of the families today, lawyer Tim Danson blasted Homolka's
television interview that came just hours after her release as cynical and
manipulative.

"She has no insight or understanding of the depths of her criminality
beyond hollow words, and clearly has no concept of the pain and suffering she
has caused," Danson said.

"The families' view was that Karla Homolka's performance (Monday) night was
just that: it was a performance."

Homolka was freed Monday from a prison near Montreal on the final day of her
12-year manslaughter sentence in the sex-torture killings of southern Ontario
schoolgirls Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French.

"I think about what I did and often I think I don't deserve to be happy
because of what I did."

But Danson said no one should be fooled by her attempt at conveying regret for
the unspeakable crimes she and her ex-husband Paul Bernardo committed more than
a dozen years ago.

"Never once in all of these years has Karla Homolka ever written to the
families, ever expressed any remorse, any regret, never apologized," he
said.

"We can never lose sight of what she did, and what she did to my clients'
children was sadistic, it was brutal, it was barbaric."

During her interview, Homolka also described herself as unable to stand up to
Bernardo, who is serving life for his role in the killings.

"I didn't initiate the crimes," she said. "I followed."

Calling her eyes "empty" and "dead," Danson said what the
public finally got to see was "vintage" Homolka, someone he said was
"tough" and controlling.

"It was the same type of discipline and control that Karla Homolka
exercised when she was alone with Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French and had an
opportunity to let these girls go free and chose not to."

Despite having sought an injunction restraining the media from reporting on her
movements, she immediately gave the interview to French CBC, Danson noted.

"The hypocrisy is remarkable."

Danson also said the families plan to assemble an expert panel of psychiatrists
and psychologists in an effort to prove the killer remains dangerous and should
continue to face restrictions on her freedom.

"Karla Homolka is a psychopath and there is no medical treatment," he
said.

At the same time, he said, the families don't want Homolka hounded to the point
where she might be driven to further crimes by being marginalized.

Nor do they care where she lives.

Instead, he said, they simply want police to keep a close eye on her.

Danson also portrayed the wrenching contrast between Homolka's expressed desire
for an iced cappuccino and the grief the families still feel.

While she was on television, Danson said, Dan Mahaffy was ``laying flowers on
his daughter's grave."